


Catacombs

by ofthecrown



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-19
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2020-07-08 17:02:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19873030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ofthecrown/pseuds/ofthecrown
Summary: A murderous criminal and a headstrong detective working together sounds pretty standard. This isn't that.





	Catacombs

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Like A Violin](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19848823) by [ofthecrown](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ofthecrown/pseuds/ofthecrown). 



> look i'll be frank i have no idea what i'm doing this could be a disaster. let's find out

“Well, what do you _think_ is going on?”

“That’s why I have you here, don’t be coy.”

“It’s like you forget who you’re talking to, Jane.”

It’s been an entire fucking three hours.

It’s been three hours, and you’ve got nothing. It’s been three hours, it’s half-past two in the morning, and he looks more relaxed and at-ease than ever. You’d kill him if that wasn’t one of the things separating the two of you from being more alike than you’re comfortable admitting.

He sees the exhaustion in your face, you’re not trying that hard to hide it. You thought he’d be more amenable, more _flexible_ , if you caught him earlier in the night, but that wasn’t the case. In fact, you see now that it’s only given him some kind of _strength_. It’s appalling.

“I’m nocturnal.”

“Excuse me?”

You raise a brow and he offers you the exact same expression. He doesn’t seem keen on repeating himself because he knows you heard him the first time. You’re just struggling to understand, first off, why he blurted that out just now, and second, why it’s relevant to the conversation at hand. You should know better than that; Droog is the closest thing to a human cat there ever will be, and to him conversations are like balls of yarn. They’re to be unraveled at his leisure, in whatever order he desires, at the pace that amuses him most.

It’s infuriating. You’ve never really liked cats all that much. Too much independence, too much sneaking.

When the silence stretches on and on, and his gaze doesn’t lift, you realize you’re just staring at him now, thinking about him, and cats, instead of paying attention to the task at hand, which is to extract crucial information. You blame it on your fatigue. Your mind has been working all day, and now you’re depriving yourself of much-needed rest. It doesn’t know what to do with itself.

 _Then_ it hits you.

“…It’s happening at night.”

“Clever girl.”

You get up and turn around, walking over to the table all his arms are laid out on. You run your finger over the barrel of a particularly interesting looking sniper rifle. You tap on it a few times, mind racing, gears whirring. It makes sense. It’s a break-in, it’s just so clean that nobody knows it. It’s a _very good_ break. No alarms set off, no security tape footage, not even awkward missed seconds of taping in which it could be said that things were edited…it’s a seamless job.

“But the police are monitoring it at night.” You frown, and turn back to him, shoulders slumping as you feel you’ve run into a wall again. “There are cars parked there, ever since the first robbery. They do watch shifts, and there’s no gap between them.”

“Oh, well, then that’s that then. We’re wrong, aren’t we.”

“ _We_ aren’t anything, I d-”

“Aren’t we?”

He actually rarely interrupts you, and you find that…you’re not sure how you feel about the way he did so just now. Especially since there is some _gleam_ in his eyes you’re not sure you’ve ever seen before. He’s very close up to the bars now, which is yet another scarce behavior, and his posture is…wait, what did he mean by _aren’t we?_

“What?”

“I mean, you and I both know these are stages by now, right? Surely you recognize that I _allow_ you to capture me, take my weapons, and lock me up neat and tidy in this little…cell. In turn, you allow me to leave when you’ve gotten your information. We could as easily do this in a coffee shop, with air conditioning, and caffeine.”

“I _apprehend you_ , you’re a _criminal_ , and-”

“Are you telling me you really believe _this_ is _genuine?_ ” He looks so amused it makes you want to give him a taste of the best knuckle-sandwich justice can buy.

“I mean, this is a necessary precaution of our partnership.”

You’ve _never_ seen the smile he gives you now. It’s huge, and almost merciless. His eyes become nearly slits, he looks so _satisfied_ ; forget the cat that caught the canary, he’s gotten his paws on the key to the cage full of them. You stare incredulously at him. What is that _look_ for? What is he…

Ah yes. Another delayed revelation.

You’ve just called him your partner.

**Author's Note:**

> please god supply me with more music that fits these two


End file.
